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he energy sector’s robust Merg- er and Acquisition (M&A) ac- tivity of 2023 has continued in 2024, with a number of high- profle deals impacting the off-

T shore oil and gas sector. But

FLOATING PRODUCTION: many of the reported transactions have seen oil companies bolstering their stakes onshore, notably in the Permian Basin (a trend labeled as “Shale 4.0” by analysts at Rystad Energy) following the announcement earlier this year

RATES, PROSPECTS SURGE that ConocoPhillips would acquire Marathon

Oil for roughly $22.5 billion.

But offshore oil and gas still looms large.

In a late 2023 deal that was labelled as a “blockbuster”, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) an- “We are in the early innings of an offshore up-cycle” nounced an agreement to acquire Hess (NYSE: HES) in shares-for-shares deal valued at $53 billion. In late May, Hess shareholders approved the deal. But an imbroglio regarding

By Barry Parker

Hess’s assets in the Stabroek Block offshore

Guyana has delayed the transaction’s closing, which was originally set for frst half 2024. In the dispute, which is currently being arbitrat- ed, Exxon Corporation (NYSE: XOM), with a 45% stake in Stabroek, has claimed a right of frst refusal (“preemptive rights”) to purchase

Hess’s Guyana holdings under an operating agreement that also includes China National

Oil Company (CNOOC, with a 25% hold- ing, fled separately for arbitration).

After the end May vote, Hess said: “Com- pletion of the merger remains subject to other closing conditions… and the satisfactory resolution of ongoing arbitration proceedings regarding preemptive rights in the Stabroek

Block joint operating agreement. Chevron and Hess are working to complete the merger as soon as practicable.” Exxon, however, sug- gested that the arbitration, fled with the In- ternational Chamber of Commerce (in Paris), might continue into 2025.

Geopolitics further complicates things, as

Guyana is engaged in a dispute regarding Ven- ezuela’s possible rights to ownership, stemming from a treaty signed in the late 1800s. Though the International Court of Justice (a United

Nations agency) asked Venezuela to refrain

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